Monthly Archives: January 2016

Anti-fracking protesters evicted from Cheshire camp

Demonstrators had locked themselves in tunnels to try to frustrate attempt to take over site in Upton

Police and bailiffs have evicted protesters from the UK’s longest-running anti-fracking camp, which activists have fortified with tunnels, treehouses and a moat, months after the high court ordered them to leave so drilling could begin.

Anna Davis, an activist with Frack Free Dee, said police had blocked the road leading to the protest camp, ostensibly to guarantee public safety while it was being used by vehicles involved in the eviction. She said she and fellow activists would try to use country footpaths to reach the site, which police are unable to legally block. Karen Harris, an Upton resident and member of Frack Free Dee, said: “We surveyed our neighbours and over 85% do not want this industry here or anywhere else. There is no community consent for this work to take place and we’ll be doing everything we can to defend ourselves.”

“There is a school within 500 metres of the site and houses within 200 metres. We’re not stupid, we can look to America for 10 years’ worth of evidence as to what fracking means for communities. We won’t have our health and environment ruined just to make a small number of people a large amount of money.”

Householders could face an insurance double-whammy if they live within a five-mile radius of shale gas exploration sites

As householders across the UK continue the great flood clean-up, many are battling with insurance companies. Some are discovering that they now face an insurance “double whammy” – especially if they live in one of the areas covered by the new fracking licences announced by the Government before Christmas.

Many of the UK’s best known insurance companies will not insure against fracking-related damage, an investigation by The Independent on Sunday and the campaign group Spinwatch has found.

This could include contamination caused by polluted water from a fracking site being spread during exceptional flood events and could also include groundwater contamination from underground fracking operations. Companies representing two thirds of the UK insurance market will not insure against damage caused as a result of fracking, or else have exemptions covering potential pollution of water from the controversial technique. This means tens of thousands of people will find it difficult to insure themselves against fracking-related damage to their property or land.